Government pulls plug on Indian Science Congress: Official

The government has pulled the plug on the funding of the association that organizes the Indian Science Congress every year, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Organized by the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA), the inauguration of the Indian Science Congress on January 3 every year was a keenly awaited event amongst a section of the scientific community.

Following differences with the ISCA on the content of the five-day annual event, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) announced in September last year that ‘’support from all its resources for the forthcoming ISC event in 2024 will be discontinued.’’

In the wake of the withdrawal of support by the DST, Lovely Professional University had offered to host the event after Lucknow University, which was the original host for the 2024 Congress, pulled out.

The DST provides Rs 5 crore to the ISCA every year for hosting the Congress with sizable funds being allocated to the host institution to make arrangements for the five-day event.
‘’The DST can think of resuming the funding if ISCA mends its ways,’’ the official said.

The Indian Science Congress could not be organized in 2021 and 2022 due to the Covid pandemic. The 108th Congress in Nagpur last year was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video conferencing.

Last month, the ISCA put the 109th Congress on hold after Lovely Professional University withdrew as host of the event. ISCA President Arvind Saxena said the association had decided to post an appeal on its website inviting universities to host the event possibly in February.

The ISCA has been organising the Indian Science Congress every year since 1914. Since Independence, the prime minister has been inaugurating the annual gathering of scientists.

There have been differences between the government and the ISCA over the last few years over the event’s organisation. The government has been promoting the India International Science Festival (IISF) as a parallel event since 2015. The ISCA has also moved court against the DST, alleging government interference in its functioning.

Once a premier event for the scientific community, the quality of presentations at the Congress had witnessed a sharp decline over the past couple of decades triggering demands from within for reforms, which were nowhere to be seen.